Havana Syndrome is a condition that’s not well understood. It appears to have caused neurological symptoms like headaches, tinnitus, and disorientation among American and Canadian Embassy staff and their families. Initial reports of this mysterious condition began emerging a decade ago from CIA officers working in the Cuban capital, but staffers in many other countries including China, Russia, and even the U.S. have also reportedly been affected by these “anomalous health incidents (AHIs),” according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
There was speculation that these symptoms were caused by foreign adversaries using radio frequency technology to attack U.S. diplomats and their families and cause these unsettling and often debilitating symptoms. However, in 2025, an official report stated that it is “very unlikely” that a foreign actor used “a novel weapon or prototype device to harm even a subset” of U.S. personnel and their families, according to the BBC. As of now, there is no widely accepted conclusion explaining what exactly causes Havana Syndrome.
Meet the Experts: Amit Sachdev, M.D., associate chief medical officer and director of the department of neuromuscular medicine at Michigan State University and Omid Mehdizadeh, M.D., an otolaryngologist and laryngologist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center
While the understanding of these symptoms and their causes is murky, it so far appears that it’s not a condition that commonly affects civilians living in the U.S. However, if you are experiencing symptoms like headaches, difficulty concentrating, disorientation, sensitivity to sound, or any other neurological symptoms, you should see a healthcare professional to find out what’s happening.
Below, experts explain what we do know about Havana Syndrome.
What is Havana Syndrome?
Even the definition of Havana Syndrome can be tricky to pin down. The term describes a mysterious condition that has been linked to a slew of symptoms, including headaches, dizziness, nausea, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, memory loss, confusion, disorientation, trouble walking, insomnia, sensitivity to sound, ear pain and pressure, tinnitus, and brain abnormalities that include concussion-like symptoms, according to the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. Most patients have said they heard an eerie sound when they developed symptoms.
What are the origins of Havana Syndrome?
Symptoms were first reported in 25 diplomats to the U.S. embassy in Havana, Cuba, between November 2016 and June 2018, per the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.
Government doctors have said they suspect a sonic device is behind the health problems, but no official cause has been found. During the original instances of Havana Syndrome, diplomats were affected at their homes and near Cuba’s Hotel Capri and Hotel Nacional de Cuba.
But more cases of Havana Syndrome, in other places, have surfaced since then. At least three CIA officers have experienced serious health complications from Havana Syndrome episodes while they were overseas, according to The New York Times. One occurred in 2020, when an officer says he suddenly developed severe nausea and headaches after pulling into an intersection. His 2-year-old son, who was in the backseat, started crying. After he left the intersection, his symptoms improved and his son stopped crying. It’s not clear if they experienced long-term complications.
There has been some research into the illness. A JAMA study of 40 people who had neurological symptoms of Havana Syndrome found that the patients had smaller whole brain white matter volume and other “significant” differences in their brain structure when compared to people who did not think they had Havana Syndrome. However, the researchers found, it’s difficult to know what those brain differences mean.
How is Havana Syndrome prevented and treated?
Treatment for Havana Syndrome is difficult, given that doctors don’t even know what causes it in the first place, says Amit Sachdev, M.D., associate chief medical officer and director of the department of neuromuscular medicine at Michigan State University.
The symptoms from Havana syndrome are very similar to those of a concussion, he points out. And, as a result, he says, “treatments are limited to a small number of medicines and therapies,” with no real consensus on how patients should be treated. “Those therapies will be used by trial and error until a pattern emerges that supports a best practice,” Dr. Sachdev says.
As for prevention, there’s also no clear idea on how to keep people from developing Havana Syndrome in the future, says Omid Mehdizadeh, M.D., an otolaryngologist and laryngologist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, CA. Doctors don’t even know what causes the illness, let alone how to prevent it, he points out.
Dr. Sachdev agrees. “We don’t know enough about how these injuries happen,” he says.
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